Our Small World
by StrawberryFish92
Summary: Dr Cox and Elliot hate each right? Well, I don't like to think that they do, at least I don't want them to. Find out what happens when I put them in a few situations that should slowly bring them closer together as friends, and maybe as something more.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N:__ Hey, this is my first Scrubs fic, I hope I write the characters ok. I'm called Fi, I'm 16 and I've just finished my GCSE's,(I'm English, by the way) and still waiting for my results (eek!) so do bear with me, although I have written stories on here before. I'll update whenever I can, (once a week, usually) but I will inevitably be away for the summer hols at some point. For some reason I love this couple and there aren't enough stories about them out there! Bit AU later on of course since Dr Cox and Elliot normally hate each other, but I have no intention of keeping it that way! Not sure what season it is set, but Jack is there and he can talk, so one of the later ones I imagine. It switches from different characters POV and you should be able to guess who. Thoughts/dreams/fantasies/A/N's are in italics. Hope you enjoy..._

_Pairing: Perry/Elliot_

_Rating: K+ for the mo._

* * *

Chapter 1

_It's a small world after all_

_It's a small world after all_

_It's a small world after all_

_It's a small, small world!_

Perry Cox woke with a start. Luckily, there was no one beside him to see the frightened look on his face and (God forbid) moment of weakness.

How Jordan had managed to convince him to go on that nothing-short-of-torture ride at Disney World with her and Jack was beyond him. Maybe he just didn't have it in him to argue with her that day.

_As if_, he thought to himself miserably. Jack had begged him to go on that ride with him, and Perry knew deep down that he was only there in the first place because of his son.

He also knew that things were not going well with Jordan at the moment. Although they argued less (which used to be their favourite pastime together) nowadays, the flame that burnt inside of him brightly every time she was in his presence seemed to be dwindling, and something was evidently lacking. Now that they were together again playing happy families, their relationship, he thought shallowly, wasn't as exciting.

Plus, Jack made it so much more complicated. Perry loved his son dearly, and he made sure to be the best dad he could be since his own dad had been less than caring to him. Living in a different home to him would not be the way forward if he wanted to become the 'Number One Dad of the Year'.

Jordan knew how Perry was feeling. After all, she knew him better than he knew himself sometimes, and therefore could read him like an open book when no one else could. But instead of confronting him about it, she uncharacteristically left him to work it out himself. She probably feels the same way, he mused. Jordan had taken Jack to see her mother again, so maybe she needed some space too.

Sighing, Perry decided that he shouldn't dwell on those thoughts too long if he planned to go to work today. It was quite obvious that more people died when he wasn't there due to the incompetence and amateurism of his supposed 'colleagues' and interns.

With that thought in mind, he rolled out of bed and started getting ready for work. Slipping on his jacket, he headed out the door of his empty apartment.

-o-

Perry hadn't had any breakfast before he left home, so he decided to stop by the local store to pick something up there. Thinking that maybe a couple of pieces of fruit would do, he was just about to go to the counter when-

'Dr Cox! Fancy bumping into you here! See, I had run out of breakfast supplies at home and there was nothing in my fridge, so I thought I might buy something here and-'

Perry automated bodily response to Elliot Reid's high pitched babble was usually a migraine. Luckily he knew the easiest cure.

'Barbie!' Perry interrupted her midsentence. 'Must you do my head in this early in the morning? I don't care about your re-heal-ly boring story of the little fridge that ran out. My God, if this is what I have to look forward to for the rest of the day from you, nay the rest of my life at the hospital with you, that noose Jordan gave me during our divorce that I've kept in my closet might finally come in handy.'

Seeing Elliot's hurt look and blessed silence confirmed that his rant had done the job.

_When will these people learn that I just don't like them and find them extremely annoying? Maybe then they'll know to stay out of my way._

Standing in the queue, Perry heard a small sniff somewhere behind him coming from Elliot.

_Ok, so maybe I was a little harsh, but it's the only way to get them to leave me alone. Barbie is always emotional about something anyway._

-o-

After paying for his breakfast, he left the store and headed off to the hospital for yet another long day at Sacred Heart. Entering his car, he relaxed a little, knowing that this was probably one of the few moments of peace that he would get alone. He turned the key in the ignition.

The engine groaned, but it made a pathetic spluttering sound followed by silence. He turned the key again. Nothing happened. Crap.

He tried once more, but to no avail. He can't have run out of petrol, since he filled up a couple of days ago and the only trips he made were to the hospital and his favourite bar.

'The battery must of died or something.' Perry muttered to himself. He would have to call work to say he was going to be late today because of this. _Damn it, people are dying because I'm not there,_ he thought angrily.

He called out a mechanic he would inevitably have to pay a copious amount of money to for doing a relatively simple job that managed to take them forever. _Overpaid jackasses, I may as well not bother coming in today at this rate._

As he was sitting in his car waiting, he noticed Elliot make her way quickly to her car with a frown on her face. He might have considered asking her for help, but he was too proud to admit he was in trouble and he had already pissed her off enough today for her to consider helping him.

Trying to remain inconspicuous, he watched her get in her car and just wished she would get out of here faster. As he looked closer though, he noticed that an increasingly prominent frown was appearing on her face as she turned the key in her ignition. Just like him, however, she found that her efforts too were in vain as her engine failed to start. She got out of her car, still not noticing him, lifted up her bonnet and looked inside. She sighed, slamming the bonnet back down and pulled out her phone.

_Oh, for the love of God, this cannot be happening. _Perry realised that this meant that Barbie was stuck here too. With him. For God knows how long.

_Why did she have to come here to the exact same place as he was today and have exactly the same problems as him? Normally I wouldn't even have to deal with her until I got to the hospital. I wonder how long I can stay in my car without being seen by her..._

He was broken out of his thoughts by a tap on the window.

'Dr Cox? Why are you still here? I would have thought you would have driven off to the hospital by now.' The familiar high-pitched voice now had a curious and concerned tone to it.

Obviously Barbie didn't have the same idea of leaving him alone as he thought she would.

_Stupid, stupid small world._

* * *

_A/N: I'd love some feed back! I've noticed other people who are Elliot/Perry fans have also said that there aren't enough stories about them out there, so I hope you find mine alright! Tell me what you think!_


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N__: From Elliot's POV. Enjoy!_

Chapter 2

_Frick. Frick frickity frick frick! Why does this have to happen to me?_

Elliot felt like banging her head on the steering wheel. However, she clearly remembered that last time she did that she just ended up with the sharp sound of a horn in her ear, an airbag in her face and a large bump on her forehead that made her look like a-

_There's no point in reminiscing about that particular incident. _Elliot thought tiredly.

It's just that this had to happen at the worst possible times. There had been barely lukewarm water in the shower, there was no food in her house and she had just received a large helping of one of Dr Cox's rants and she wasn't even at the hospital yet. And now her car won't start. _Frick._

After calling the hospital to say she was going to be late, she looked around to see if there was anybody who could help her with her car. She was averse to talking to strangers, but she was desperate just to get to work so she wouldn't have to face yet another rant at the hospital, most likely from Dr Kelso this time.

As she was looking around, she saw a familiar looking Porsche.

_Hang on a minute, what an earth is Dr Cox still doing here? He was in front by 3 people in the queue in the store, and he hasn't even started his car._

It dawned on Elliot that as unlikely as it was, he too seemed to have the same problem. She knew that going over to see what was wrong wasn't the best of ideas after he had just ranted at her; it would probably just result in yet another rant about leaving him alone, but it was better than sitting alone waiting for a mechanic to arrive.

She cautiously approached his car; he hadn't noticed her coming up to him as he seemed lost in thought. She gently tapped his window before timidly speaking.

'Dr Cox? Why are you still here? I would have thought you would have driven off to the hospital by now.'

Dr Cox shot an annoyed look at her having realised he had been spotted. Giving an exaggerated sigh, he admitted defeat and got out of his car so he could face her properly.

'Listen Barbie, I'm already well aware of the fact that your car has decided to go ka-putt on you too, so ya don't need to go into one of your pointless stories you seem to love to share with everyone whether they give a crap or not. I was just hiding in my car with some ray of hope that you wouldn't spot me. But hey, that plan has gone ka-putt too, so now I'm stuck here with Breakdown Barbie-

'Dr Cox!' Elliot managed to interrupt his second rant at her for the day. 'We don't have time for one of your stupid, condescending rants. Now I know it sounds hard for you, but this time we have to act like mature adults so we can both manage to get to the hospital ASAP. Ok?'

'And Backbone Barbie is making another guest appearance it seems.' Elliot glared at him, but he continued. 'Look, I've already called out a mechanic; he can just have a fun time fixing both our cars as we slowly try not to kill each other in the meantime.'

'Wait, what's wrong with your car? My battery went dead.'

'Same here Barboo. Luckily, charging up the battery doesn't take long unless of course you happen to be a mechanic. Meaning we might just be able to get to the hospital at some point today.'

'Well, both our shifts start at 8 and its 7:50 now, so technically we're not even late yet.'

'Barbie, you do realise that by the time our mechanic finishes scoffing down the deep-fried heart attack on a plate he calls a light breakfast because he 'needs the energy' since he's a growing young lad after all and you have to consider the amount of hard work and effort that goes into getting his fat arse down here and attaching-'

Elliot drowned out the sound of Dr Cox's incessant ranting. _God, he must be in a real bad mood today, he never normally rants on this much, even when things start to get rough at the hospital. Well, I suppose he's having a similar bad day to me but I don't see why he has to tell the world about it._

Dr Cox showed no signs of slowing in his rant. Elliot sighed and rolled her eyes.

'- it will be the year 2012, and I'll probably be competing in the 'How far can you throw a lazy useless mechanic' category for the London Olympics, since I'll have dragged lard butt there the entire way.'

'Are you sure you shouldn't enter the Guinness book of records for 'Most amount of long winded rants in one day' category, because I'm sure you would manage to reach 5 billion.'

'Sorry, were you saying something there Blondie?' Dr Cox retorted. 'Cause it sounds like you seem to have developed a more prominent backbone.'

Elliot had had enough. Taking a deep breath, she decided to counter him with one of her own rants.

'Well, if you're going to be such a sarcastic, whiny arse the entire time we're stuck here, I have no intention on having to put up with all your stupid rants that inevitably have yet to follow about how useless our mechanic is or how you think it's horrible that you are stuck here with me, when you don't even take into consideration what it's like for me to be stuck here alone with you. It would be a whole lot easier if you just relaxed for a second and just accepted the situation, you're only making it worse for the both of us by complaining. Things aren't going to get better that way. Can't you give the ranting a rest for once?'

Elliot looked up directly into Dr Cox's eyes with a defiant look to see his reaction and if she had finally gotten through to him about how she felt.

Instead, he gave an exaggerated pained expression and muttered while walking away from her. 'My ears, why is it always my ears you have to cause pain Barbie? It just sounds like you're trying to communicate with dogs the entire time...'

Elliot felt like crying in frustration, but she knew that if she did it would mean Dr Cox had won yet again, and she wouldn't allow that right now.

'No wonder Jordan always goes away to her mothers with Jack.' She shouted after him. 'She says that she can only take so much of your sarcasm and drinking, especially in front of Jack. She says she doesn't want her son to grow up to be like you: an angry, sarcastic, borderline alcoholic.'

She only realised what she had just said when it was too late. Perry stopped in his tracks and slowly turned around to face her, his face an unreadable mask.

'Yeah. I don't want him to either.' He said nothing more after that, and instead walked in the direction of the stores entrance.

Even when she had technically won the argument, she still felt like she had lost_._

_Why can't I learn to keep my mouth shut when I'm angry? Frick._


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: An extra long chapter for you guys, I had to keep writing until I could end it the way I wanted to! Mixed POV. You should be able to tell who's who. Enjoy! Oh, and trying not to sound like one of those whiny review-hungry authors, I need more reviews! And, I have failed miserably already... (oh well, go for broke) 1 review for 2 chapters isn't enough. I know you're out there reading my story, my account tells me you are! I won't 'ask' for reviews in return for new chapters, but please guys, I would like more support!_

Chapter 3

Perry entered the store quietly and went into an empty aisle to think. Right now he would let Barbie deal with the mechanic if he even bothered to show up.

'_...she says she doesn't want her son to grow up to be like you: an angry, sarcastic, borderline alcoholic!' _

Of course, Perry had been slightly shocked at how defiantly she had stood up to him; usually an argument between them would culminate in her getting all teary eyed and running off to find a closet to cry in.

No, it had been the last sentence she had angrily yelled at him that had caught him off guard. Did his ex-wife confide in Elliot, (and possibly Carla) about how she was feeling? Perry closed his eyes and sighed. Jordan certainly wasn't talking to him about it.

However, he didn't need to hear it from Jordan to believe it was true. Their relationship was falling apart and Jack was the last bond holding them together. He wanted to love Jordan, he really did; life would be so much simpler that way. Unfortunately, you can't feel anything your heart doesn't want to feel, and Perry was subject to that.

Maybe, he thought, maybe his family would be better off if he wasn't around them all the time, living in the same home. There wasn't a chance in hell that he would give full custody of Jack to Jordan, but he felt that she at least deserved to be with someone else who loved her back and so Jack might have a better role model in life.

That would, logically, leave him all alone in his apartment. Again. Unless of course, he managed to find someone who hated themselves enough to love him. However, he was attracted to strong women with confidence and attitude, and having self-esteem low enough to actually like him would contradict those attributes.

_Maybe I was meant to die alone, a miserable old geezer who nobody likes. _Perry thought dejectedly. Looking at himself he thought: _Maybe I've already become one._

Coming out of his rather morose thoughts, Perry looked at his watch. Quarter past eight. It had been about half an hour since he had called the mechanic. There might be a chance he had actually turned up by now.

Sure enough, when Perry looked out the window, he saw Elliot talking to a stout little man in overalls who was allegedly the mechanic. He deemed it safe enough to go outside and join them since there would be no confrontations between him and Barbie so long as the mechanic was there.

He strode out of the store and stopped in front of the pair who stood by Elliot's car. Elliot averted his gaze, while the mechanic gave Perry a hearty smile that sickened him slightly.

'Ah, you must be Mr Cox, I assume?' the mechanic said expectantly. Perry blinked at the unusual title, but nodded nonetheless.

'Yes well, this lovely young lady right here,' he winked at Elliot. Barbie blushed. Perry just rolled his eyes. 'has just been explaining the problems with each of your cars. If the problems are what you say they are, and that both of you have a simple case of a flat battery, I should be able to get both of your cars running in no time!'

He grinned at the pair, and promptly strode off to get his equipment from his van parked nearby, leaving Perry and Elliot alone together.

_Crap. Think fast, Perry._ Perry looked down at a rather despondent looking Elliot.

Elliot meanwhile was looking anywhere but at Perry, obviously still too ashamed to even look at him after their last conversation. Perry knew she was feeling guilty about it and any anger he felt towards her vanished. She was obviously sorry for what she had said earlier. However, he was not one to listen to awkward apologies, so to avoid that, he decided to dive in and start the conversation.

'Barbie.' Perry said softly, trying not to startle her. Elliot glanced up nervously, looking like a little girl who had just been told off. Her confidence and 'backboneness' from earlier had gone and he felt like he was talking to the old, insecure Barbie that she was when he first met her as an intern. Luckily, she didn't interrupt him.

'I know we're not exactly best pals with each other, in fact, we'll probably never be that close, due to my unfortunate intolerance of annoying, neurotic squeaky people.'

_No Perry, you're meant to be reassuring her that it's no big deal about what she said, not putting her down again. I'm so used to criticising her that it's automatically programmed into my speech every time I talk to her. Damn it! Say something...nice._

Dr Cox cleared his throat and tried again.

'Elliot.' The use of her given name got her attention.

'What I'm trying to say is, don't take it so hard on yourself when you finally get one on me right? Listen carefully, because I will not repeat this: I know I'm not perfect, I do in fact have faults, and as a result of that I am allowed to be criticized occasionally. There is no need to apologize, I hate those anyway. Besides, I was actually starting to have more respect for this new, 'backbone' Barbie that seems to be appearing more often these days. Do you want to bring her back? I need to be able to actually speak with you for work purposes, you realize.'

Realising that the speech that Dr Cox had just made wasn't actually a rant at her, Elliot relaxed a little and looked up into Perry's eyes and saw that he was being sincere.

'I-I know that Dr Cox, but I shouldn't have made that comment so personal. What happens in your private life is none of my business and I should respect that instead of using it against you. I'm really so-

'Ah! Barbie! Did you na-hawt listen to any of the part where I said I hate apologies? Surely you must have learnt that by now anyway. They're a sign of weakness.' His tone was light and almost teasing. Elliot gave a small smile.

'Right, guys!' the mechanic had returned with what seemed to be a skip in his step, which Perry frowned at. _How in God's name can a mechanic be so happy with the job they have?_

'I've got my equipment ready!' he nodded to his toolbox in his hand and a bunch of wires over his shoulder. 'Which car do you want me to work on first then?'

Perry was about to say jokingly 'ladies first', but Elliot beat him to it.

'Well, seeing as it was Dr Cox who called you out, it would seem logical that you attended to his car first, he just thought it was sensible if we use the same mechanic so we wouldn't have to call out two.' Elliot looked at Dr Cox for approval; she was obviously still trying to make up for what she had said earlier.

'Fair enough.' Perry said gruffly, nodding at the mechanic as an indication for him to get started.

Perry glared at the mechanic as he watched him lift up the bonnet of his car. Turning around, he could see Elliot smiling amusedly at him.

'What?'

'What do you have against all mechanics?' Elliot retorted. 'He's actually a nice guy you know, you'd see that if you took off your 'I hate anyone who seems happier than me' goggles.'

_And Backbone Barbie was back, thank God._

'Maybe so, but that guy-'

'His name is Joey.'

'Whatever. But I bet he's only being nice to you because quite honestly, he probably wouldn't mind bedding you.'

'Dr Cox, not every guy who is nice to me wants to bed me! Stop being so paranoid! Besides since when did you care who I sleep with? It's none of your business anyway.'

'Well, don't mistake this for interest, God help ya if you do, but you're single, aren't you? I heard you finally managed to get Clara off your back.'

'Yeah, he's happy with Kim now, he spends most of his free time looking after Sam. Why do you ask?'

'Well, who knows how desperate you might be? You're always complaining about how you're the only one who hasn't had a baby yet. If 'Joey' over there asked you on a date, would you take it?'

'I might just in spite of you, but honestly? He's not my type. I prefer men who are...taller.'

'So now you're being discriminating of short people? Barbie, that's just not fair. How can you be picky after all these years?'

'Dr Cox! You're the one who seems to have a large chip on your shoulder when it comes to mechanics! Earlier you were describing just how useless they are!'

'Yes, but I don't want to sleep with a mechanic do I?

'Oh for god's sake this is getting ridiculous! I'm not attracted to every man I meet! I just don't fancy him!'

As they were arguing, their voices steadily got louder and louder and they were attracting a few odd stares from passersby. Joey the mechanic, who was immersed in working on Dr Cox's car, finally noticed the verbal war between the two, and considering it was quite distracting to him and all those in the surrounding area, he thought it best that the owners of the cars he was fixing should be prevented from killing each other in the meantime.

'-so what you're saying is that I should just jump every guy I meet because it's 'better than nothing? Dr Cox what do you take me for, a-'

Joey cleared his throat.

'What seems to be the problem with you two then huh? I gotta say that you've been attracting quite a few strange looks from around here.'

Elliot froze mid-sentence, and much to Perry's amusement, slowly turned bright red in embarrassment.

Seeing as Barbie seemed completely incapable of talking right now, he thought it was only fair to do the talking for her.

'Oh, nothing there, Joey old pal. We were just discussing how Blondie here is becoming a little rusty in the dating department. Isn't that right, Little Miss Lonely?' Elliot's eyes widened in disbelief at what Perry had just said and looked like she would rather not be there at all.

Joey looked a little taken aback but nevertheless he replied.

'Now, that is a shame. A pretty girl like you ma'am deserves someone good enough to take care of ya. I best be getting back to fixing your car sir.' He smiled at them before scurrying back to tend to Perry's car. Both Elliot and Perry had managed to catch a glint reflecting off what looked suspiciously like a ring on his finger as he had walked past them.

'See that? He's married, probably with kids. Are you going to tell me that I should steal him from his wife?'

'Well-'

'Dr Cox, I'm not arguing with you again. It's childish and very repetitive. Seeing as it's the only thing we are capable of doing when we are talking to each other, I think it's best if I don't talk to you until Joey has finished fixing our cars.'

She walked away from him before he could reply, and sat down on a nearby bench, looking deep in thought.

Perry thought it was best to leave her alone.

-o-

_Why did Dr Cox have to be such an...ass? Frick, he knows how to get to me though. I don't think I've been so embarrassed since that time when-_

_Elliot, think positive. You just have to forget those moments in your life._

She glanced at her watch. 8:45. _I wonder how to the hospital is doing without us..._

She thought to call Carla just to check on things. Getting her phone out, she pressed speed dial and waited for her to pick up.

'Hello?'

'Hey Carla, how's things at the hospital?'

'A bit quieter without you and Dr Cox, actually. No one's died today yet, but looking at Dr Kelso doing rounds right now, we might end up having to deal with a few interns in shock. JD I think is trying to reassure them that he's just an evil old man who hates everybody.'

'Sounds normal. Don't worry; we'll both be there soon as long as we don't kill each other.'

'Elliot, honey?'

'Well, you know how Dr Cox and I don't always see eye to eye?'

'Don't tell me you've been arguing again.'

'Sort of, but you know what he's like. Just the usual condescending rants about how useless we all are compared to him. We've decided-well, I have actually- that it's best that we don't talk to each other until both our cars are fixed.

'Oh, Elliot. Just don't let him press your buttons okay? You're stronger than you were before; you have to keep telling yourself that.'

'I know Carla. See you later.' Elliot hung up.

Stretching her legs out, Elliot decided to try and work out what had just happened in the last hour. Her car had broken down, so had Dr Cox's. He had called out a mechanic. They had inevitably argued on and off, with a hint of amiability towards each other after she went a bit too far, and to be honest she was getting sick of it. It would be so much easier if they could actually get along most of the time. Hell, she did respect Dr Cox, but why did he have to make it so hard for her to actually like him? He was always so stubbornly behind that sarcastic barrier of his for anyone to get to know him as anything else. She and the rest of the hospital had seen his vulnerable side, but they only got to very, very rarely. And that wasn't enough. He needed to open up more, let people in.

'Barbie!' the man plaguing her thoughts broke through her reverie. He didn't sound too happy, either.

'The mechanic wants to speak to the both of us, apparently. As usual there are 'complications'. He turned and walked back to Joey, not caring to see if Elliot was following him.

Elliot sighed, and silently followed Dr Cox to where the stout little man stood.

'Okay guys, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that Mr Cox's car here just had a simple case of a flat battery, so I've started charging it up and it's all good to go in about a couple of hours I would say.'

_Frick, why am I always the one that gets the bad news?_

'The bad news is that Miss Reid's car has something a little more serious. See, the engine has come loose somehow and as a result, an important component is missing which probably fell out while you were driving along. I'll have to take your car to the garage so I can replace that piece and fix your engine back into place. I gotta say, ma'am, you're mighty lucky that your engine didn't fall right through as you were driving! Oh, and that will be 30 bucks, Mr Cox. ' Dr Cox grudgingly handed over the money.

_How the frick am I going to get to work? Dr Cox would never willingly give me a ride there. Talk about the most awkward and tense car journey in the world..._

'Oh, and seeing as you two seem to work with each other, I'm sure you wouldn't mind sharing a lift with Miss Reid here once your battery is charged up!' He looked at Dr Cox to see if he would agree.

'Yeah, sure. Sounds 'sensible'.' His expressionless face gave away nothing.

_Oh, frick. _

He gave them both a grin, his good mood unwavering as he went back to his van, pulling out his phone to organise the transportation of Elliot's car. Perry didn't say anything to her, opting instead to go sit on the green area near the store.

Elliot began to see Dr Cox's hatred of mechanics. _Double frick._


End file.
